


Knocked Out

by orphan_account



Series: Fan made Episodes (Voltron) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fan Made Story, Gore, M/M, Paladins, Poor Keith, Shiro is kidnapped before this story starts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 10:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10489104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Shiro is captured by the Galra and the paladins go to save him. But when they do, Keith gets an unexpected emotion and also gets severely injured. Shiro has to make a decision whether or not he should do something about Keith.Because of his decision, the team is slowly suffering and Shiro decided to come up with a plan to fix his mistake.This story is split into two parts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone must pray for Keith right now.
> 
> Also I made this chapter mainly for the Klance and Sheith shippers. You're welcome. And if you ask me for which ship I'm more into, it's Sheith. That's how come there is more of that than Klance. I'm so sorry Klance shippers. But if Sheith never does happen, I do want Klance to happen.

     "I can't believe that we have to go and save Shiro again." Lance complained, the chestnut skinned young man opening his big mouth once more. Everyone was in the main room of the castle, everyone except for Shiro. Allura was typing in commands, not even looking at her hands, just simply looking over at the screen in front of her. The princess was as calm as usual, despite Lance switching from flirting with her to complaining in just a matter of seconds after she announced what they were going to do.

     "Well, we wouldn't have to be saving him if it weren't for you!" Keith countered, feeling that he needed to defend his leader even if he wasn't there, "If you didn't drag us down, Shiro might be here!" The fiery personality of the red paladin managed to shut Lance up, however the brown haired young man was glaring at him. Keith glared back, a feeling like negative electricity running between them.

     Hunk, being like a mother he usually acted like, pushed them apart, sighing. "Come on guys, we can't afford to argue like this."

     Allura cut in, agreeing with the yellow paladin. "Hunk has a point, you guys need to stop. If we are to form Voltron once more, we need a team bond between everyone."

     "And Shiro." Keith mumbled, accepting Hunk's soft push to the chest and walked backwards, away from Lance. Hunk exhaled a bit in relief, since Keith usually didn't back off this easily. He turned over to Lance, who was smirking and turning away proudly.

     The princess didn't hear Keith, or at least acted like she didn't, and continued to command away. The remaining four Paladins looked at the screen, still amazed they were seeing a hologram thing instead of a projector. Even though they've been on this alien ship/castle for maybe months (who knows, it's space), sometimes it was hard to believe this happened to them. It seemed like only yesterday they found the blue lion and was shot off into space.

     "Okay," Allura finally said, "we are opening the worm hole right now. Setting destination to the Galra ship where Shiro is imprisoned. Hold on."

     The four Paladins clung onto a piece of the castle, accustomed to the castle's wormhole disasters that had happened previously. Pidge clung onto Hunk, the yellow paladin having one hand on her shoulder.

     They all watched as the black hole in space opened, a fancy golden ring around it. Strengthening their grip on whatever they were holding onto, the Paladins braced themselves just in case of any 'technical difficulties' that may happen.

     The castle submerged itself into them black matter and found itself speeding not too long before it came out of the other end, the black hole behind them disappearing and the gold ring not leaving a trace.

     All the Paladins let go of whatever they had held onto and let themselves breathe once more. Coran and Allura didn't seem to mind though, the two Alteans looking like they just took a stroll through a park.

     "Paladins," Coran instructed, "Get to your lions. We are not that far from the ship!" The mustached man just looked over his shoulder, looking at the Paladins, giving each of them a second of his gaze before returning to assisting Allura.

     When the Paladins turned to go to their lions, Pidge spoke, "I'll take Shiro and whoever finds him with me in my lion, since no one is going to say that they will and probably planning to tell everyone last minute."

     "What if it is you that finds him?" Lance asked, holding his helmet firmly in his hands.

     "I'll be searching for Shiro by hacking into the main data frame. It will take some time though, so you must be patient with me. Hacking isn't very easy, especially when it comes to alien hardware and the fact that their database might be bigger than the ones we have encountered so far. I'm guessing this because they put Shiro into that ship, so it must be heavily guarded and have strong shields programmed in the database that would give people a hard time if they weren't Galra to even access it or even take one glimpse at it." Pidge explained, even though she knew that Lance probably wasn't paying attention to what she had said.

     "So I'm taking that as a no, you'll not find him." Lance said, looking over back at the entrance to enter his lion.

     The four Paladins split to get to their lions. Keith smiled as he sat down in his lion, just being glad that his girl didn't block him from entering like how she sometimes would. The red paladin rubbed his hands together with a small grin on his face and pressed a few buttons before his lion set off. Others followed him. Keith bit back tears as he remembered what Shiro had told him that one day. 'If I don't make it, I want you to lead Voltron.' Or at least something along those lines. But, Keith didn't think that Shiro was going to die anyways, so he didn't really out much thought into it. But now with everyone following him, the memory hit him in the head like a baseball.

     "Okay guys," Keith said, successfully keeping his tears in, "When we go in, I need everyone to split up into teams. However, Pidge will be alone, by herself. I will be by her side until I know that she is safely in the main databank so she may hack into it to find the exact location of Shiro. Hunk and Lance, do you guys mind if you go together?"

     "Sure thing!" Hunk replied instantly, not caring if he worked with anyone. He got along with all of the Paladins.

     After a few seconds, Lance replied, "Yeah! Hunk and I will find Shiro, no doubt."

     "Good." Keith responded, "Pidge, do you have a map of the entrances and exits of the ship?"

     "Yes." Pidge replied. "That is the only thing I can access without actually going into the main database. That and where the food courts are."

     "Ooo food!" Hunk hummed, Keith imagining him drooling at the thought of a hamburger.

     "Okay Pidge, can you send them over to me?" Keith asked, leadership already coming as something easy for him.

     Pidge was quiet for some time until a file appeared on Keith's screen. The red paladin thanked Pidge and opened the file to find the outline of the ship and some arrows pointing here and there. Keith observed the map, noticing how Pidge had already highlighted where the main database was estimated to be.

     "Okay, Hunk and Lance." Keith said, "You guys need to take the lower back entrance, the one with the two purple pillars. Pidge and I will go and take the front top of the ship, the one that seems to be covered in glass. We will find a way to pass it. Maybe there is a small opening of some sort."

     Pidge spoke up, "I was just hoping that we use the abandoned hallway near where I think the database would be by crashing my lion's head through it. These are old maps, I'm pretty sure they covered the top of the ship by now, causing the only entrances to be on the sides and at the bottom." At the corner of his screen, Keith saw the green paladin circling something and then it appearing on his screen how it said 'plans from 73 Earth Years ago'.

     The green paladin then wrote and highlighted the abandoned hallway. "We need to get to there. It is crucial we hit that hallway and not some other one. Keith. You have to go onto the top of the ship and land your lion there. Fly over towards me and then we will go together. The safest place to park your lion is at the edge of the glass."

     If Keith was the true leader, he would've scolded Pidge for giving him orders, but they didn't know that Shiro had told him that and if he told them that now, they would question him of why he didn't speak up earlier and talk about how it seemed suspicious since he looked like he wanted to stay the leader of the group. They would probably accuse him of just making stuff up and then he would lose the trust of him teammates.

     Or maybe he was overreacting in his mind.

     So, Keith held his tongue. He only nodded, in which in response, Pidge smiled back. Keith turned off his mic and asked his lion, "You hear that girl?" In response, his lion gave a soft purr. Keith gave a small chuckle and patted his seat, turning on his mic so that his teammates could hear him once more.

     "Okay guys." Keith said, "Let's not let Shiro down."

 

* * *

 

     Keith found himself floating in outer space, his eyes trained onto the green lion as his lion crouched down to hide from lookers. Using the limited fuel he had in his jet pack thing, he slowly went over towards the mouth of the green lion. As soon as he entered the jaws of the giant creature, it's mouth shut and Keith was blocked from the outside world. He just sat there inside the mouth of the creature, hearing a faint hum of the heart of the lion and the muffled talking of Pidge.

     Keith went flying backwards as the lion head butted into the ship. A yelp escaped his lips as he hung onto the canines of the lion, not finding much finger room to get a good enough grip. He flew to the back of the mouth where he disappeared from the jaws of the lion into the head, almost knocking into Pidge. Keith moaned in pain, his dark colored eyes opening groggily to see Pidge peering over him.

     "Are you okay Keith?" Pidge asked, concerned for her teammate.

     "Y-Yeah!" Keith said, a bit too sharply. Pidge didn't look too surprised though. Keith always had that little flare to him that made him seem angry and mad at you all the time.

     "Come on Keith." Pidge resumed, "We're here."

      Keith shakily got up, holding his arm which he hit during his crash as he looked through the eyes of the lion. They were there, and no Galra soldiers. Perfect.

 

* * *

 

     Lance landed his lion, careful not to squash anything or anybody. Sure the Galra were bad guys, but if he squashed them like a little bug, he too would be a bad guy and he would never be able to prove himself to be one of the best heroic Paladins of all time. Plus, wouldn't that make them bad guys if they cruelty killed the bad guys?

     Hunk landed right next to him and both jumped out at the same time, Bayard in hand. But turns out there were only two Galra soldiers. Confused, the two Paladins looked at each other but then looked back at the two Galra soldiers. They looked like rookies by the way the had held their guns. Lance could've sworn one of them looked like he was scared of them and almost dropped his gun.

     ' _This is so wrong_ '. Lance thought. He simply hit one of the soldiers with the butt of his Bayard and so did Hunk, knocking them out without really hurting them.

     When the two were done, Lance immediately went to his communication.

     "Keith!" Lance said, "Keith you come in?"

     "Hear you loud and clear Lance." Keith's voice responded almost immediately. Lance smiled a little. Although he loved to tease Keith about them being rivals, he had a little warmth for Keith in his heart.

     "There were only two Galra soldiers here. And they were not even properly trained!" Lance exclaimed, "I could just yell here and nobody would come to get me!"

     "Lance. Calm down." Keith said, Lance imagining the hand motions Keith would make.

     Lance decided to joke with Keith. "Keith, are you telling the guardian of water, which is basically like the calmest thing, to      calm down. You are the guardian of fire. I don't even think you know what calm is, especially when you look like you're mad all the time when I'm around."

     "Because you're you." Keith retorted, his voice making Lance chuckle a little.

     Lance could hear the red paladin breathe deeply to calm himself down and he spoke again, "Lance. You have to get out of there. Before you get ambushed or something. Search the whole ship. Well... At least the bottom half. I will search the top half. Got it?"

     "What happens if Galra ambush us once we step out?" Hunk asked, joining the conversation that was supposed to be between only Lance and Keith.

     Keith seemed startled by the sudden join of Hunk too by his hesitation. "Hunk and Lance. If you get ambushed, just scream for help into the communicator."

     "No don't scream." Pidge said, joining the conversation too. "Just ask for help. I don't need to be deaf by the end of this mission."

     "Fine." Lance whined, hearing a chuckle on the end of the line. He was hoping it was Keith, but it was most likely Hunk. It seemed as if Keith never liked to laugh, but Lance knew he could.

     "Okay, Pidge out."

     "Lance, we gotta go." Hunk said, now pulling Lance out of his communicator world and into the real one. Hunk tugged at Lance's forearm, nudging his head towards the exit.

     "Okay." Lance said, sighing.

     "Hey, and Lance." Keith said. Lance paused, waiting to hear what Keith was going to say. "Good luck." Warmth spread all over Lance, a small childish smile on his face. "You're going to need it."

     "I'm going to take that as a good meaning and hold it close to my heart." Lance said, waiting for a response from Keith, but he never got one.

 

* * *

 

     Keith and Pidge hadn't encountered a single Galra soldier since they entered. Which made them both even more concerned.

     "Are we in the wrong ship?" Keith wondered out loud, looking around the deserted hallways. "Or maybe they tricked us into coming here while they attack the ship.

     "Allura and Coran would've called us if they were attacked." Pidge reassured, making a sudden left. Keith, who was a few steps ahead of Pidge, had to walk backwards for a while before turning left also.

     The two were quiet for some time until Pidge spoke again, "We're here."

    Keith looked at the door, it already being open to expose the room. Inside was a nerd's dreamland. Well... A computer nerd at least. The screens were covered in mysterious coded alien and the computers there looked like they belonged to a mighty wizard rather than some high class alien.

     "I think it's a trap." Keith said, instinct taking over to get into a defensive mode with his bayard out.

     Pidge followed him, leaning to the opposite direction that Keith was leaning so they both checked both sides. The two peeked over the walls to find no Galra soldiers hiding there. Keith and Pidge both gave a little exhale, which quickly turned into confusion. Pidge walked forward towards the large computer while Keith went straight to the communicator.

     "Lance. Come in."

     "Hear ya Keith! What's up?"

     "We're having the same problem here. There's no Galra anywhere."

     "You sure. Last time I checked, you were Galra."

     "You know what I mean! There's no Galra soldiers."

     "We haven't even- wait. Hunk?! Oh quiznack, I lost Hunk. Where is he?! Got to go Keith."

     Keith was startled by the missing Hunk. Let's just pray that he's all right.

 

* * *

 

     Before Keith had called, Hunk and Lance were walking down the hallway. Hunk looked around, clearly confused as to why there were no Galra soldiers anywhere. The yellow paladin stayed quiet while Lance kept talking. Although Hunk was patient with Lance, he felt the need to yell at Lance to shut his mouth.

     Hunk smoothed his black hair. ' _Just a few more minutes of them until we find Shiro and then I won't have to be with Lance no more._ ' Hunk thought to himself. The yellow paladin just calmed himself down as he went over from door to door, searching for Shiro.

     Lance paused as Keith's voice came from their helmets. Hunk listened in, opening a door to find dozens of glowing, yellow eyes staring back at them, weapons in hand. Hunk opened to mouth to alert Lance, but before he knew it, a hand dragged him in and locked the door behind him.

     The blue paladin looked behind him and searched around, searching for any signs of the yellow paladin, but nothing came up. Lance gulped, suddenly afraid.

     "Y-You're fine, Lance." He assured himself as he continued to walk, feeling as if thousands of eyes were watching him, judging him, observing him.

     "P-Pidge? K-Keith?" Lance spluttered, the fear in his voice obvious.

     Pidge answered first, "Lance! Are you okay?"

     "I can't find Hunk! I feel like someone is watching me..." Lance said, his insecurity strengthening. "You need to find the room Shiro is in, and it has to be quick. I feel like someone is just going to take me form the hallway and just torture me."

     Keith now spoke, "Lance. Keep your guard up. No matter what."

     "K-Keith?" Lance felt his cheeks warm up at what he was about to ask the red paladin.

     "Yeah?"

     "Can you keep talking to me?"

     Lance heard Keith give a little laugh at the end of the line. "You want your _rival_ to keep talking to you?"

     "Shut up! It's so weird with nobody to keep me company."

     "I thought you were the one that always talked."

     "Y-Yeah, but I knew their presence was near. But nobody is here!"

     Lance listened for any sign of Keith. He heard a faint conversation between Pidge and Keith until Keith said goodbye to Pidge and Kieth's voice came back into his helmet.

     "Lance. Pidge is working on hacking into the databank right now. We're almost done."

     "Do you ever talk about something that isn't related with work?"

     "This isn't really a job. More like a mission."

     "All the time you talk about Voltron or something like that. It's as if you have no life outside of working in a lion."

     "I do have a life!"

     "Oh really? How come you never show like, any affection?"

     "I cradled you in my arms one time."

     "But I don't remember that one."

     "In my book, it counts."

     "So you can only show affection once in your life?"

     "..."

     When Lance didn't hear a response, he knew he struck a nerve or just really ticked him off.

     "What do you want me to do about it Lance? Give you some hug or something?"

     "N-No! I meant like showing you cared more often." Lance spluttered.

     Keith was silent for a while. Lance's face was warm, hoping he wasn't blushing over a guy. Maybe it was hot in here.

     "I think I found Shiro." Keith's voice said, a static noise indicating he was connecting Pidge through.

     The green paladin's voice answered right away. "How can you be sure?"

     "It's heavily guarded and a window shows Shiro. He's still alive because he's moving!"

     Pidge was silent for a while. "You might need backup."

     "I don't need backup, Pidge. These guards look like rookies."

     "That's what happened to us too. They're not really good at their job, I'm telling you." Lance cut in, sensing Keith's annoyance.

     "Then it shouldn't be a problem for you Keith if it wasn't a problem for Lance."

     "Hey! I heard that!"

     Lance felt a bitter feeling toward Pidge right then. But, he couldn't stay mad at the young green paladin for long.

     "Okay, gotta go defeat these rookies. I'll be right back." Keith's voice said, it becoming lower as he turned off his mic.

     "Good luck Keith." Lance said as he also turned off his mic, "I believe in you."

 

* * *

 

     Keith watched the fallen bodies of Galra laying in the ground. Keith sighed and turned over towards the door. He pushed and pulled at it, but of course like most doors they had to go through and were important, the door had a lock on it.

     "Hey Pidge?" Keith said, looking intently on the door.

     "Keith?"

     "Yeah. The doors locked. But it looks weak. I think I can kick it down."

     "I don't recommend it. You might hurt yourself."

     Keith ignored the green paladin's lecture about if he did break his leg, what would happen to Voltron and stuff like that. Keith bunched up his muscles and launched out his leg into the door and listened to it moan as it left its frame and fell over, sounding like a falling tree. His foot stung from the impact of metal, but at least it worked.

     "Pidge. I kicked it down."

     "Were you not listening to me?!"

     "No. At least it worked."

     He heard Pidge sigh and then her voice sounded again, "Get Shiro and then call me. I will get my lion ready for right now. Lance, I'm lighting up a pathway to my lion. You will be able to see it because I'm turning off the lights in your area and only letting the ones going towards me stay on. Got it?"

     "So I follow the lights?" Lance's voice asked.

     "Yes, even a kindergartener could do it. So Lance, you got to pay attention okay? Do not get distracted. We don't need to lose another paladin."

     Keith heard Lance cringe and mumble something at the green paladin's sassy sentence.

     Keith walked through the door, the light illuminating his backside and high lighting his front side. Keith looked around to find Shiro, who was curled up in a corner, the black paladin looking fragile and weak which was so unlike him.

     "Shiro?" Keith breathed, his eyes starting to burn as the tearing up feeling hit him hard. His throat burned as he tried not to cry. The black paladin looked up at the red one, his dark colored eyes lifeless as he stared at Keith. Finally, Shiro's lips parted as he started to take in what he was seeing.

     "Shiro, let's get you out of here. We need our leader back." Keith said, going over to Shiro and grabbing his arm to yank him upwards. Shiro grunted as he was lifted only to fall again. His legs looked weak and probably fell asleep. But Keith surprisingly realized that Shiro had pushed against him and denied Keith to take him anywhere.

     All Keith could do was squat down to Shiro's eye level, taking off his helmet in the process and laid it down on the ground next to him. Shiro looked up through the white bangs that covered one of his eyes to look into Keith's face. This Shiro was not the Shiro Keith knew and loved (bromance). His dark eyes were not filled with the encouraging, firm, and caring feelings he once loved to stare at and feel... hope. Shiro wasn't shy nor let his guard down to let his teammates see him as a tiny kitten. But this one did. Even when he was injured, he managed to act tough and acted like the leader he was. This Shiro was an imposter, or was it just the outer shell of Shiro filled with someone else he hid form his teammates? His eyes were filled with fear, as if looking into Keith and seeing the Galra in him. His forearms were lifted to protect him in any time that Keith might attack, which the red paladin found ridiculous. Keith moved a centimeter closer and Shiro flinched.

     Keith's bottom lip quivered. He wanted Shiro back so bad. "Shiro..." Keith trailed off, replaying all of the good memories he had with Shiro. All that did was make him want to cry even more.

     "I missed you Shiro." Keith blurted, wrapping his arms around Shiro unexpectedly. Keith inhaled the scent of the paladin, smelling of sweat and fresh air. What did he expect from Shiro? Him to smell of strawberries? As the red paladin buried his face into the trapezius of Shiro (the muscle located next/on the neck), Shiro found himself filling with life once more. He had been trapped in a frightened trance as memories had hit him that he refused any contact, but now that Keith was here with him now, he felt his old self flood into his heart like a dam breaking. Shiro processed the fact that Keith was hugging him tightly and wrapped his arms around the red paladin also.

     Keith stiffened as he felt Shiro returning the hug, but melted into it seconds after, letting a few tears fall. But Shiro felt the salty drops soak his into his shirt and he slowly patted Keith's back. This just let Keith fall apart in front of Shiro, crying silently in Shiro's warm embrace.

     "I-I-I don't know what would've h-happened if w-we didn't find you!" Keith sniffled, letting go of Shiro just a little, just enough to look into Shiro's eyes once more.

     "Did you lead Voltron?" Shiro asked, a smile on his face.

     "I don't think I was ready to take over if you disappeared." Keith admitted, letting go of Shiro completely, the black paladin hesitantly letting go of Keith also.

     Shiro's eyes widened as a truth hit him on the side of his head like a brick. "KEITH! We got to go! It's a trap!" Shiro exclaimed, struggling to stand up.

     Keith stood up first and tilted his head to the side confusing taking over. "There are no Galra soldier-" He was cut off the the sound of skull meeting metal. He screamed in pain, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

     Shiro watched in horror as Keith's body collapsed onto the ground, his eyes barley staring into the wall behind Shiro. Small whimpers left him and then it turned into screaming. Blood started to gush out from his scalp. Shiro struggled to get up once more, but Shiro got kicked down by a Galra soldier. The Galra with the metal baton in his hands slammed down on Keith every time the red paladin tried to get up: in the ribcage and then again in his arm, and when he was about to swing it one more time, one of the other soldiers stopped him.

     "You're kicking a dead Zeorig." The other soldier said, "There's no point." The one with the pole in his hands nodded and dropped the metal and let the sound ring in the room. Keith stopped making sounds, the last few tears falling off from his cheeks all the way to the ground. The Galra soldier that had stopped further damage to be done on Keith went over and closed his eyes, obviously creeped out to have a body stare into him. Shiro stayed frozen the whole time, his muscles not responding to his brain yelling at them to work.

     But once he heard voices in the helmet that was placed down next to him, he started to move. Shiro quickly grabbed the helmet and put it on.

     "KEITH'S DOWN! HE'S DOWN! Oh god." Shiro yelped into the helmet, sliding against the wall only to be cornered by the Galra soldiers. He growled and kicked out his legs to hit them in their ankles??? to trip them. He leapt over their recovering bodies over to Keith once more and grabbed his body. He didn't care if Keith was alive or dead, he was bringing his body over to the castle.

     He heard Lance speak, "What do you mean, down?"

     "He's down! He's not responding or anything! I'm just hoping he's not dead right now." Shiro explained, clutching the bloody body of Keith in his arms, letting his bloody forehead press against his chest.

     "Is he bleeding?" Pidge asked, worry in her voice.

     "He's bleeding out from his forehead and he is bruising up at the ribcage and the arm. Oh god. Pidge, we need to get out of here! Hopefully the little healing pod can revive Keith!"

     "WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT HIM?!" Lance yelled, his behavior strange, "YOU COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING! IF IT WAS ME THERE, I WOULD'VE PROTECTED KEITH!"

     "My body couldn't move! I tried, but it just didn't!" Shiro defended himself, feeling a bit selfish.

     Pidge cut in, "We're missing Hunk!"

     "Where's he?" Shiro demanded.

     "He just went missing." Pidge explain quickly.

     Shiro felt a cuss word forming on his lips as he felt the Galra starting to recover and groping at him. Shiro's arm glowed in rage and hatred for the Galra and soon their bodies fell onto the ground, holes in all of their chests. Shiro started to run for it, careful not to drop Keith or mess anything up with the red paladin in any way.

     At the end of the hallway was Hunk, surrounded by 24 Galra soldiers. The yellow paladin looked frightened, but when he turned to Shiro, he was relieved. But then his gaze went over to the bleeding, limp Keith and his relief turned into worry. The red paladin's arm left Shiro's grasp and just was limp and jumped around with the steps. His legs, which was bent around Shiro's arm, was also shaking with the steps. Shiro turned around to find the doors opening to release more Galra soldiers. If they hadn't appeared when Keith was searching for Shiro, they were sure as hell appearing now.

     Hunk struggled against the Galra soldiers, desperate to be free and run with his leader, and he actually managed to wiggle out of the grasp of the mighty two Galra soldiers. They exclaimed in surprised that the big-boned man had managed to slip out of their grasp. The yellow paladin joined Shiro and they both turned sharply to the left, following the lit lights. Somehow, they felt that this was the right path.

     But once they turned, they were faced once more with Galra soldiers running their way. Shiro looked around and quickly saw a ladder leading upwards to a little platform. Hunk followed his leader's gaze and nodded his head, climbing up the ladder, Shiro following, managing to climb with only one hand. Keith began to slip out of his grasp, but the black paladin shifted from time to time to make sure that wouldn't happen.

     "Shiro?" The extremely soft voice said. Shiro looked downwards at Keith, who was still bleeding his life out. His eyes were all red from crying and so was the flesh around his eyes. His teeth with stained with blood, probably from biting his lip or something. But Shiro saw beauty of the Keith he loved under all of the gore. Shiro started to tear up, a weak smile creeping from his lips. Keith smiled but then his eyes started to close again, but Shiro could tell Keith was fighting it.

     "Don't worry buddy," Shiro said, "almost done here. Then we can get you all fixed up."

     Keith simply hummed, his eyebrows furrowed in pain.

     Hunk was already at the top and Shiro followed. The Galra soldiers were closing in onto the ladder, and Shiro wasn't liking that. He looked around to find their only exit was to jump across the hallway. The only problem was that the jump was a 15 foot jump. He couldn't possibly make it with the extra weight of Keith. But he had to try.

     "Shiro you won't make it with Keith. You have to let him go." Hunk said, regret in his voice as he mentioned Keith. The red paladin murmured in response, but nothing that came out of his mouth made sense to either of the paladins.

     Pidge and Lance popped out from the either side of the top of hallway, where Shiro and Hunk were trying to jump to. The two other paladin's looked at Keith, his bleeding body barley stirring. Lance started to tear up, his hands slapped over his mouth. Keith managed to open his eyes to look at Lance until they closed again. The blue paladin started to glare at Shiro.

     Pidge cried, "You have to let him go!"

     "How about you just throw him across to us?" Lance offered.

     Shiro shook his head, "Too risky. If I miss, he goes to the Galras. Plus, he is too heavy. I don't have time to remove his armor to throw him to you guys and still manage to survive at the same time! They're already climbing!"

     Lance looked from Keith, to Shiro, to Keith again, to Pidge. Giving up, Lance looked up to Shiro and regrettably yelled at Shiro with Pidge, "You have to let him go!"

     Shiro shook his head, obviously not wanting to let go of his right hand man (quite literally). "There has to be another way!"

     Pidge didn't think of what she was saying and yelled at Shiro, "He's going to die Shiro! Look at him, he's bleeding to death! We can get a new red paladin! I know this is hard. I don't want to give Keith up either, but we have to let him go if we are to save two more paladin's rather than only have two left."

     "Are you crazy!?" Shiro exclaimed, "Listen to yourself!"

     "No, she's right."

     Shiro looked down in surprise to see Keith looking up at him, the look on his face looking like it took a whole day's worth of energy just to speak. "Shiro look at me. I'm dying. I'm just going to be dead weight. Literally. You need to let me go. I'll be fine. Find another red paladin. Someone you can trust. And love."

     "But you're the only red paladin I will ever love!" Shiro protested, nuzzling into Keith's neck, holding the paladin closer to him.

     Keith pushed weakly against him. "Do it for the team. If I don't make it. I want you to find another paladin." Keith said, sounding like Shiro when he was dying.

     Shiro started to tear up, looking into Keith's dark eyes. But finally, Shiro exhaled and regrettably kneeled down to leave Keith there.

     Before Shiro dropped him, Keith whispered, "Love you Shiro." Keith managed a weak smile before closing his eyes and fell limp once more. Shiro stood up, numb with grief. He stared at Keith for a few seconds before turning back towards the other end of the hallway. Hunk leapt and managed to make it with the the assistance of both Lance and Pidge, and now it was Shiro's turn. The black paladin's heart didn't respond, not knowing how to feel about the situation. He leapt without putting much thought into it and made it cleanly. He turned one more time to see Keith being picked up by a Galra soldier and carried off.

     They ran like no tomorrow, finally making it to the green lion and entering as quick as possible. They made a stop to where the blue and yellow lion were parked and they went off. But Shiro looked behind him to see the red lion roaring with grief, clawing at the ship in an effort to free her paladin. But, her effort was no good and she roared with all her might that the four paladins heard it from the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry. Next part will be posted in a few days.


End file.
